Hobart, Tasmania: Tasmania for Lunch

Budget Flights are so cheap now. You could go somewhere for just one night and it could be worthwhile. Such were the comments of my partner as he watched a commercial for an airline. This proved the perfect inclination for me to plan a surprise birthday trip for him; a one night stay in Hobart. Tasmania was somewhere we had always planned to go, despite its close proximity we had never made it.

I picked up some cheap flights, allowing us a one night stay. It felt a little frivolous but at the same time, fun. I figured I would try and find last minute accommodation right before we left. This was lucky. The airline called two weeks before our departure.

“Your flight to Melbourne has been cancelled. You will need to switch flights and depart the night before.”

The night before? This meant we would be only spending a day in Hobart. As I bought the flights on sale I couldn’t get a refund. Changing the dates would incur a fee higher than what I actually paid for the tickets in the first place. It looked like we were spending a day in Hobart.

Three days before we were due to go the airline rang again.

“Your flight to Melbourne has been cancelled. You will need to depart at three in the afternoon.”

Our evening flight was now an afternoon flight. We would be landing at 9.30am and leaving at 3.00pm. We would be going to Tasmania for lunch. I confessed to my husband about my surprise present and the airline mix-up. He found the whole thing quite funny and said he was quite looking forward to his birthday lunch.

Hobart is a spectacular place, even if you can only spend a few hours there. The weather was perfect even though it was a winter’s day. We ate lunch in Salamanca in a small café. The time we had we spent wandering around the shops and admiring at the colonial architecture that Hobart is famous for.

Our lunch in Hobart may have been one of the most expensive on record, but it was also one of the best.